On the Court
by Kirschavoc
Summary: (REVISED) Volleyball AU. In which Sakura Mikan insists that having a crush on Hyuuga Natsume was in the past. Anyways, she has matured and thinks her past behaviors when her 'Natsu-senpai' was around was quite... embarrassing.
1. 00 Prologue

**Disclaimer:** Gakuen Alice and its characters does not belong to me but Higuchi Tachibana, the mangaka.

* * *

_On the Court_

**Prologue**

* * *

Her childish yet long fingers were like feather duster, wiping off the dusts that had pooled on the surface of the thing in her grasp. The imagination of hers had gone wild, pondering that it could be buried ancient books but made its way through the large box of her old possessions. The thing looked familiar, she recognized. She noticed the digits written in a black ink although the writing was quite unclear considering the year she probably penned those digits. There were two of them; both have almost similar digits. She had just found two hardbound notebooks. She realized that those digits are the year she had used them. The discovery of her sealed belongings was a nightmare to her, in which she dropped the notebooks. She has stumbled again to the molders of her past years, if she were a clay.

She found her diaries, her diaries during her first two years in junior high school.

Her Junior High School years were fun, as she would recall. Mikan considered herself as an average student; however, she used to fail her Mathematics subject. Thinking about it, she did an excellent job in balancing her studies and volleyball. Yes, Mikan Sakura was part of Alice Junior High School girls' volleyball team.

"Let's see if there would be something interesting," she mumbled to herself as she started skimming through her diary in her first year.

_Dear Diary, _

_The boys' volleyball team was playing under the sun when I passed the schoolyard. I didn't understand why they were playing there but I was pretty sure I had passed the volleyball gym few minutes ago. The guy with a star-shaped tattoo in his goofy face served (that is what they call it, right?) and it came in like some speedy ball from the baseball game and I swear the ball would have landed on my face. And, there was this other team member who was as tall as I am saved me. Well, not really. He just happened to be there. Anyway, I'm so thankful he saved me! I thanked him and he seriously looked so cute and familiar. The coached called him Uuga or something and I think he's part of the team. His position in this sport made me wonder. Probably for the short ones, haha._

Mikan placed her right palm in her face; she just could not hide her embarrassment but she felt nostalgic on how adorable her handwriting was.

'_I was so stupid_,' Mikan rolled on the floor, kicking her foot alternately on the floor.

She scanned through the next pages and this reads:

_Dear Diary,_

_I finally know who that person iiiis! He's already in his second year and he plays for the team. His name is Hyuuga Natsume , Aoi's older brother. No wonder he looked so familiar. Why didn't Aoi mention that he has a cute older brother? I think I have a crush on him, it's been a while anyway. This summer break, I'll be learning volleyball. I can't really wait!_

Mikan remembered the time she asked Aoi. Aoi just replied, "I did tell you I have a brother but I didn't mention he's cute because I think he isn't." Her memory was still clear how Aoi's voice sounded and the expression she was making.

It must really wrong labeling her Hyuuga-senpai cute. According to her best friend, Hotaru, '_Males in my class hate it when they are called cute. Hyuuga must be the same, I guess_.'

The knocking on the door halted her thoughts. The sound of hitting the wooden door reverberated around her room filled with dust as she was in the middle of cleaning. Lazily, she forced her feet all the way to the door. It was her mom, worried and confused.

"Mikan, are you okay?" Her mom, with an apron and a spatula in hand, asked in a concerned way, caressing her forehead to check whether her temperature was normal or not.

"I'm okay, Mom," she answered sweetly.

"Turn on the lights, sweety. Even though it's 11 a.m., you need to see clearly for you are cleaning."

"Yes, Mom," she nodded in assurance.

With the assurance that Mikan gave to her mom, her mom simply went back to the kitchen.

She continued her cleaning, wiping off the dust and placing her unnecessary treasures inside the large box. Maybe it would not be so bad to keep her diaries on her desk instead of the box. She suddenly stopped midway, and grabbed her pen and new diary and wrote:

"_Not all things have sentimental value to us. There are things we have considered just a piece of junk at the moment but one look at it again, it contains memories that has connection to us. Just a simple dress when we were a little child, unbeknownst to us, our parents adored you so much—thinking we beat those typical cute things because you are the cutest. Too bad, it would no longer fit on you. There are things when we probably want to kick our past self for doing this and that, like, how we desperately deleted all those embarrassing posts on our accounts in social networking sites. I was so incredibly stupid back then, I would say. But it defines who we were. Really._

_However, today was different. I found my first two junior high diaries that marked as the proof of my stupidity and childishness. Reading them all over again won't be bad. I wished to know how much I've changed all over the years._ "

Next week will be another chapter of her life: High School. She would start again at Alice Academy.

And oh, her _ex-crush_ Hyuuga Natsume was a student of that school as well.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I finally have a new plot in mind. I love writing prologues but I can't just manage to continue for some reason. And like every time I open this account, my username is always different. Ugh. Hope you follow and review, guys! I know it's short. By the way, please check out my other story though I kinda lost the drive to continue it. About this story, I already have the events planned!

_Kirschavoc, 141223 (08:39 p.m.)_

You can call me** Jean**, by the way.

**Revision: **I changed the tense. Minor revisions.

_Kirschavoc, 150701 (8:47 p.m.)_


	2. 01 Club Day

**Disclaimer:** Gakuen Alice and its characters does not belong to me but Higuchi Tachibana, the mangaka.

* * *

_On the Court_

**Chapter 01**

* * *

The scenery right before Yukihira Mikan's eyes reminded her of the full-bloomed cherry blossoms in the anime shows. With its swaying gestures with the wind, the pinkish petals danced back and forth right before its departure from its current space. Alice Academy never failed to amaze Mikan; the academy was really environment friendly and could be mistaken as a park, except that buildings rooted from the land. Difference was evident among the three Alice schools she had been; the Alice Elementary School, Alice Junior High School, and Alice Academy. Its difference was never a hindrance to Mikan in coping up and expanding her comfort zone.

Marched in to the auditorium from their respective classrooms like an army, the students did not show any reluctance in following to their schoolmates with armband pinned to their blazer's left sleeve. Mikan felt eerie by glancing at them sideways; their cold gaze at them sent chills down her spine, which she rapidly assumed that these people were from the disciplinary committee. The dungeon, commonly called as detention, would be the destination if a captured mistake that was an unescapable fugitive from the committee's eyes.

Mikan plopped down on her chair, feeling all comfortable and felt no pain from her careless fall on her seat. Her seat was similar on the ones in the movie house, she could relax and probably eat a popcorn. She was about to close her lids when someone spoke on the microphone.

"Welcome to Alice Academy Club Day! In this club day, the recognized clubs will promote their own clubs to all students of this academy. After which, you will be allowed to visit the clubrooms and the gyms under the supervision of two club representatives for each club. Thank you and let's proceed to the event's main course," the speaker continued forth.

To Mikan, she heard a lengthy speech just like his lengthy hair from the student council president, Sakurano, which was not necessary for her to listen. The point of Sakurano-kaichou's speech was short yet he did use some fancy words to lengthen his opening remarks. Mikan was one of the numerous students of the academy, seated on the auditorium to witness the clubs' promotion. Settled according to their respective year level and class; students were probably wondering what club to join.

"So Mikan," Hyuuga Aoi nudged her elbow, breaking the silence she felt within herself. "What club are you joining?"

She replied after the three-second pause, "I don't know really. Maybe I'll join the volleyball team?" She looks at Aoi with her confused look, with the _team_ word proves that she is really unsure based on the way she spoke it.

"Just so you know, nii-chan's in the team. I did never think he loves volleyball that much," Aoi informed with a grin on her face, shrugging her shoulders in a slow motion.

Mikan narrowed her eyes to her seatmate, "Your point? Come on, Aoi. Stop teasing me. I don't have a crush on your brother anymore. It's actually embarrassing to see him again. I was such an idiot back then; I bet I was his laughing stock in his junior high years. Why did I ever do those things?"

Then Aoi set her eyes on the stage, watching intently on the little performance presented to the audience. Mikan took that Aoi did not hear what she said; the explanation would be later.

Different clubs offered their audiences with their different gimmicks. The drama club offered a presentation that captured the audience's heart. The cooking club gave homemade cookies to the audience; one person from the crowd even said, "_Are you bribing us with food? I guess it's somehow working_." The president of the said club chuckled, but frowned when someone shouted, "_I'll join your club as long as I could eat your cooking for free!_" There were many other gimmicks but Mikan did not find it amusing. For example, in front of the unwarned crowd, the boys of Alice Swimmers' Team stripped suddenly, displaying their muscles with their swimming trunks and goggles on. The females could not help but cover their eyes; Aoi blushed a bit. The disciplinary committee head quickly enforced the club for the indecent act that deemed as inappropriate.

"I thought Alice Junior High is the only one with the weird clubs of all Alice Schools, this is much worse," Aoi comments after seeing Paper Club, Sleep Club, I-Want-To-Go-Home-Right-Now club, and even Natsume-Ruka fan club.

Mikan was about to answer when—

"And now, for the Alice Academy Volleyball Team." The members, boys and girls, were lined up all the way to the stage's center.

"Aoi, is that Hotaru?" Mikan asked.

"A pleasant day to all of us, Alices, I am Imai Hotaru, the team's manager. We are the newly reformed volleyball team of this school, as you can see. Last school year, boys and girls were separate clubs. But now, both sexes are united, leading into much stronger force as we help each other to utilize our skills and bringing out the best in each other," Hotaru spoke in a reserved tone, gazing at the audience with persuasion in her eyes like some veteran speaker.

"Hotaru-san seems to be good at this stuff," Aoi mumbled to herself. "Look Mikan, there's my brother!"

Mikan followed the direction where Aoi's finger pointed. He seemed bored like the usual, she notices. She instantly looked away.

"I'm so gonna join this club! Now that it's a unisex club, I can finally see Nogi-san, Hyuuga-san and Sono-senpai much longer!" Mikan heard it from a squealing student, probably a fangirl.

"And by the way," Hotaru continued. "We have a new head coach and the coach is none other than Jinno-sensei. Anju Narumi is still the club adviser though. You have nothing to worry about. I look forward seeing you applicants with your application form. Thank you for your time."

"Aww that sucks, man! Why could he be the coach when he's talking about numbers and formulae for daily basis?"

"Jinno-sensei? What?"

"What was that club thinking?"

"Where's the previous head coach?"

"Are they joking? I bet he'll teach about the parabola and stuff of the ball"

Mikan perceived those statements clearly; those affected her in an ambiguous way. "Aoi, I think I might reconsider my plan about joining the club."

"I thought my brother does affect you no more. Why?"

"That's not the reason. I think that the coach is the math teacher. And you know, me and Math…?"

"Okay, I get it. I will still join though. I can teach you, anyway. After all, we are finally classmates, so it is much easier to keep tabs on you and math," Aoi patted Mikan's shoulder.

Mikan was not actually enthusiastic being inside the volleyball gym. She could feel the heat of the sun slipping through the gym's windows made of glass. The sunlight made the floor shiny, in which one could probably his or her own reflection; the floating dusts were also visible enough because of the light. The gym was not as packed as the auditorium; however, Mikan sensed that a lot of them wanted to be part of the team. The applicants, well Mikan herself was unsure if she would consider herself as an applicant, squatted in front of some of the club's members. They were having a briefing, announcements were about to given even though they were not official members yet.

The scratching sound of the lapel signaled the start of the briefing, with Hotaru nearing it to her mouth. "All of you are gathered, as you took interest to join our little team, really. I'll go to the point right away. One must take the try out before becoming an official member. Previous members of this club are exempted, of course. There are five drills to test your abilities in playing this sport. Those drills are serving, passing, setting, spiking, and blocking. We decided to drop the digging drill. You, applicants, need to pass at least two drills. Good luck," she announces, still with that tone of hers where monotonous would be the best description.

"You heard that Aoi? How could I possibly enter the team if I'm only good at passing? They could have at least include digging," Mikan whispered, her words hinted worries.

"I know; it's not like I'm good at blocking either. At least you can jump high," Aoi eyed her.

"The tryouts will start tomorrow at 3:45 p.m. — 6:00 p.m. No reservations. First come, first serve. No pun intended." Hotaru grabs the pink-haired lady in the arm, "This girl right here will be the registrar. Go to her first on the day of the tryouts for enlistment so we could keep track who's first and next."

The pink-haired student went to their applicants' front. Bowing her head, she introduced herself "Good morning! I am Harada Misaki. Please bring your application forms with you."

Hotaru carried a rim of paper, placing it on the shelf located at the nearest table. Distress was all over her face, after all, boys of the club were present but they didn't even bother to lend her a hand. Taken aback, Misaki handed Hotaru the lapel with no hesitation. Then Hotaru continued, "The try outs will last until next week. Any questions?"

A boy in the middle raised his right hand, "What is the procedure of the tryouts? Do we have to wait for the first applicant to accomplish all the drills or….?"

"Good question. Nope. The first five applicants will be distributed. The first one will do serving, while the second one will do passing, until the fifth one will do blocking. All of those drill will be done at the same time, but different applicants though. After they're finished with the drill, they'll proceed to the next one," responded the guy with a star-shaped tattoo.

The response made Mikan jolted a bit; his voice was loud and clear, without any assistance from any voice amplifier.

'_Is that goofy-face?'_ Mikan asked herself inaudibly to Aoi and everyone else.

"Any other questions?" goofy-faced reiterated.

"Are we going to see Hyuuga-san and Nogi-san?" The girl located at the front inquired, not even raising her hand.

"I'm not sure about Ruka. But Natsume will handle one of the drills," Miksaki replied first before goofy-faced had a chance.

The giggles of the female audiences followed Misaki's reply. Aoi couldn't help but rolled her eyes and Mikan snorted quietly.

"So questions?"

No one raised his or her hand.

"Okay. Check out our practice game later this dismissal," Misaki informed.

The students rose up from their sitting position, completely nervous, some of them, just like Mikan, pondering if it would be the right choice to join the club after hearing the briefing. The tryouts were a tradition of any sports-related clubs of Alice Academy, the volleyball team is kind of picky this year, perhaps it is because of Jinno-sensei.

The club members viewed the hesitance or the doubt lingering on their audiences' eyes. Well, it was inevitable. Jinno-sensei made it clear that he wanted to train those who had potential to keep up with his ways. He stated the he did not have time to strengthen newbies in this field. Anyway, the club members wanted the best for the team. It was a high time to regain their honor from the volleyball court.

"Aoi, I'm quite unsure about this," Mikan nervously told her.

"It will just be fine."

That was not Aoi's voice, Mikan knew. She and Aoi looked behind their backs to see the voice's owner.

"You're Sakura Mikan-san, right? Please join the tryouts."

All they see is Misaki bowing to them; her hair hangs like vines, swaying with the wind in a closed area.

* * *

**Author's Note:**I hope this is lengthy enough! Thank you for the reviews, follows, and faves! I'm actually happy to know that there are people who are reading this. Please review, like the usual. I desperately want to know what you think about this and if you ever spot some mistakes (grammar, usage, spelling etc.), please don't hesitate to add it on your review. And yeah, I'll be talking about volleyball as one of its main theme. Don't worry, I'll include the definition if ever there will be terms involved.

**Anyway, any volleyball fans among my readers? Can you guess her position in volleyball during junior high school? Please comment your guesses on the review box!**

It may be somehow annoying but I'll really include the honorifics for in depth of the characters' relationship to each other. In case you do not know what they mean, please search it on google.

Just remove the spaces and type the following symbols in the parenthesis.

**Merry Christmas to us all!**

_Kirschavoc, 141225_

**Revision: **I changed the tense. Semi-major revisions.

_Kirschavoc, 150709 (11:42 p.m.)_


	3. 03 Those Two

**Author's Notes:** Hey there, sorry for being MIA for seven months. Here's the update, finally! _**Before you start reading this, please re-read the previous chapters because there are some changes.**_ Thank you.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** Gakuen Alice and its characters does not belong to me but Higuchi Tachibana, the mangaka.

* * *

_On the Court_

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Alone, Mikan took the weight off her feet on the bench not far away from the gymnasium. The wooden chair supported Mikan's back; however, Mikan doubt the comfort the seat provided. Good thing, the heat further did not make any oppression to her glowing skin, as the sakura tree's shade coincidentally sheltered her.

The warm wind blew the fallen leaves forth behind. She watched the unplanted soil in front her hovered by those leaves. It was a perfect view to think about Harada-senpai's generous plead. She wanted to decline but she also wanted to enjoy playing volleyball to the fullest in her high school. Mikan initially planned that she would attend cram school after her classes, in order to get good grades for a good university in the country.

The scratching sound of the leaf to one another was the sole sound Mikan heard. '_It was rare for Mikan Sakura to be quiet_' — those words were the feedback she often heard from her acquaintances in her junior high school years. Somewhere in her mind, she hoped that Hotaru filmed her silence so that she could prove them that the Mikan they knew was not all about noise. All of a sudden, she perceived a sound that was not distant enough. She looked for sources but there were none. The sound repeated. It was not a moment longer when she felt something usual going on inside her stomach— that was when she realized that her stomach growled due to her hunger.

"_Yakisoba pan_, do you want?" A disembodied voice had startled Mikan. The voice was deep and masculine— a voice she had not known of but there retained familiarity. She peered over her shoulder and glimpsed a packed bread. Then, she looked up to identify the owner and first glanced the short black fringes swinging centimeters away from the person's forehead. Mikan, without any failure, caught sight of his red eyes.

Indeed, that made the ruckus inside her stomach stop. _Red_, _red_, _red_, and **red**. She widened her eyes and because of shock, she impulsively stood up and gave the lad a good hit on his jaw by her head. The person apparently stepped backwards and hit his back unintentionally on the sturdy tree. Stroking his pained jaw, he yelled at Mikan, "What are you doing, idiot?"

"N-N-Natsu-senpai?" Mikan sounded as if she were about to cry at any moment; she couldn't even stop fidgeting.

"Oi! Being Aoi's friend does not grant you any permission to be familiar with me," he instantly responded while he dusted the dirt off his back.

For the first time in two years, Mikan had seen her _ex-crush_ up close. His features as man were getting more prominent compared to the last time she saw him. Piercing gaze, long lashes, thin lips, chiseled jawline— you name it. As she stared Hyuuga Natsume, she could not deny that her heart skipped a beat. Mikan struggled to hide the blood creeping beneath her rosy cheeks. However, what Mikan noticed in her ex-crush's changes was his height brought upon by puberty. His tall figure towered her. The top of her head was the same level of his armpits. Compared to the very first day she saw him, they were of the same height.

"Um… sorry, Hyuuga-senpai," she found her voice back. "Is there anything I could help you with?"

His reply came fast, "I don't need your help. Accept the bread and join the damn club."

After two years, Mikan concluded that only his physical appearance change. He was still the same cold upperclassman she met. Natsume relaxed on the bench where Mikan stood nearby, in which Mikan followed suit. Puzzled, she questioned, "What?"

"You heard me. Just agree in order I could get the job down," he did not even bother to explain everything further to Mikan. To Mikan, at least, he looked like as if he was taking to himself.

"Job?"

"Your monster of a bestfriend won in that stupid game. The loser must take the task in dragging you to the club."

Seeing her senpia's eyes not paying attention to her, she instead eyed the bread, "Really?"

He finally looked at her, "Either way, I don't care if you join or not." Natsume stood up, not even bidding Mikan farewell. Mikan watched him disappear in her sight. He did not care, anyway. Well, she suddenly lost her appetite.

"Eh? A first year?" A woman, probably a second year, sarcastically muttered and examined her physical aspects from head to toe.

_Where did she come from? I don't even see her coming_, Mikan thought to herself. In return, she inspected the lady before her. The lady had a short permed green locks. She was also a beauty and really got a fine height. Wait, that was an understatement. This girl was tall but was about two inches smaller than Natsume.

Amidst Mikan's staring, she did not stir nor affected. She snickered, "Another girl got dumped Hyuuga-sama? Poor you, darling."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Thank you for the reviews, follows, and faves! I'm actually happy to know that there are people who are reading this. Please review, like the usual. I desperately want to know what you think about this and if you ever spot some mistakes (grammar, usage, spelling etc.), please don't hesitate to add it on your review. Sorry for the shortness!

_Kirschavoc, 150716 (9:09 p.m.)_


End file.
